Backing Up

[Lugztaz]

Right now my current setup is as follows:

SATA 2TB WD backing up to USB 2TB WD - All files besides movies
SATA 2TB WD backing up to USB 2TB WD - Movies

I've been using SyncBack freeware to do my backups and I've run into some issues recently where my drives are not staying in sync. I've run into this issue in the past with other backup pieces and I'm looking for the best solution.

I was looking around and was wondering if the Windows Mirroring option in Windows 7 was trustworthy? This would be automatic and would only display 1 drive letter per "set". is this a good option or is there something else out there?

What I want is a 1 to 1 backup, nothing where I have zips or a proprietary compression method.

Help?

 

[Trepidati0n]

I think you need to understand what is wrong with Syncback. I use it quite often and do run into issues rarely. However, when I do have issue, the method resolve in my case is to delete the profile and set it backup.

 

[Lugztaz]

I just want to ensure this is the best setup for what I'm looking for. I will be re-setting up profiles and testing though.

 

[Aesma]

Are the USB drives always plugged and running ?

 

[Lugztaz]

Yes they are.

 

[notarat]

I'd create a DOS Batch File and schedule it to run nightly.

Something as simple as what I typed below would work.

backup.bat

xcopy X:\*.* Y:\ /D /EXCLUDE:MyExcludes.txt /E /I /V /C /Y
xcopy Q:\MOVIES\*.* R:\ /D /E /I /V /C /Y (Assuming you start your line here in the root movies folder)

Your MyExcludes.txt file would contain the file extensions you do not want backed up

.mpg
.mpeg
.wmv
.mk4
.vob
and on and on and on

Subsequent executions would only copy new files or ones that have changed since the previous backup was run.

That's by no means a complete command...you can do far more with the command if you combine it with other commands.

 

[ToddW2]

When I was using windows I loved SmartSync Pro.
You can setup multiple backups, different types, locations, etc.

 

[GeorgeHR]

I use the method that notarat uses.

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In addition to notarat's method, I have other needs. I use PKZIP to zip up daily changes. But it appears that the OP has no need for any type of change history.

 

[Lugztaz]

I'm trying to find out exactly what files are not being copied or even deleted that is throwing off my numbers, does anyone have a suggestion on something I can use to compare two drives? I used WinDirStat but thats hard to see.

I setup new profiles but nothing new happened, both of my backup profiles still don't match.

 

[notarat]

I'm trying to find out exactly what files are not being copied or even deleted that is throwing off my numbers, does anyone have a suggestion on something I can use to compare two drives? I used WinDirStat but thats hard to see.

I setup new profiles but nothing new happened, both of my backup profiles still don't match.

I deal with over 4 million files in 700k directories on 13 drives.

I use LS.exe to scan my large drives, then import the results into MS Access where I can crunch the hell out of the data for comparisons between drives, find old data that hasn't been accessed, find duplicates, etc...

I have a database to do all that, but you need to have MS Access installed.

Edited to add:

With the tool I use, I can scan 2 drives and compare the results by creating a relationship between them based on the full pathname and filename. That shows me which ones copied over properly. I do a find unmatched to find the ones that didn't.

I can break down how many files are on each drive, what types of files are there, and how many of each type of file, and I export that to Excel, Power Point, etc...

Here's a sample pic of part of one of my crosstab queries
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/6974/crosstab.jpg

It lists 150+ different file types, and shows how many of each file type are present on each drive.